France to ban smoking at beaches, parks and outside schools to protect children

France plans to ban smoking on beaches, in parks, outside schools and in other locations from July to protect children, the government said.

The ban, which follows similar measures across an increasingly smoking-averse Europe, will exempt cafe outdoor terraces and will not apply to electronic cigarettes.

“Where there are children, tobacco must disappear,” Health and Families Minister Catherine Vautrin said in an interview with the Ouest France newspaper late on